1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to inventory selection systems, such as systems for selection of inventory for order fulfillment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of enterprises may maintain inventories from which items may be selected. For example, retailers, wholesalers, and other distributors of product (which may collectively be referred to as distributors) typically maintain an inventory of various items that may be ordered by clients or customers. As another example, manufacturers may maintain inventories of parts, raw materials, and/or partially or fully assembled products. This inventory may be maintained and processed at a materials handling facility which may include one or more of, but not limited to: warehouses, distribution centers, cross-docking facilities, order fulfillment facilities, packaging facilities, shipping facilities, or other facilities or combinations of facilities for performing one or more functions of material (inventory) handling. When a customer places an order, one or several inventory items specified in the order must be retrieved or “picked” from inventory and prepared for delivery to the customer. To prepare the picked items for delivery, the picked items may be delivered to any of a variety of destinations in the materials handling facility, including, but not limited to, sorting stations and packing stations.
FIG. 1 illustrates a broad view of the operation of a conventional materials handling facility. Multiple customers 10 may submit orders 20 to the distributor, where each order 20 specifies one or more items from inventory 30 to be shipped to the customer that submitted the order. To fulfill the customer orders 20, the one or more items specified in each order may be retrieved or “picked” from inventory 30 (which may also be referred to as stock storage) and/or from other locations in the materials handling facility, as indicated at 40. Picked items may be delivered to one of one or more pick destinations 50 in the materials handling facility for processing, such as sorting stations for sorting the items into orders. These pick destinations 50 may include one or more of, but are not limited to, sorting station(s) 54, queue(s) 52 for sorting station(s) 54, station(s) for other processing 58, queue(s) for other processing station(s) 56, and packing station(s) 60. Other processing stations 58 that may be pick destinations 50 may include, for example, various stations that provide value-added services. Examples of value-added services may include one or more of, but are not limited to: gift wrapping, monogramming, battery charging, and so on. In general, any service or processing that may be performed on items after picking and before shipping to the customer(s) may be a possible pick destination 50 for picked items. Physical locations for these pick destinations 50 in a materials processing facility may be referred to herein as “stations”. Note that a station may also receive items from one or more other stations for additional processing.
Note that batching is one way for grouping multiple orders together for one pick destination 50. A materials handling facility may be configured to operate as a batching or non-batching facility. In a batching facility, batches themselves may be considered pick destinations 50. A batch may be viewed as a pick destination that comes into existence when a batch is created and disappears when the batch is finished and processed. In a batching situation, conventionally, pickers pick to a single batch (or destination) at a time.
Some picked items may be delivered to a sorting queue 52 for a sorting station 54 where the items may be sorted into their respective orders. Other picked items, such as items for priority orders, may bypass the sorting queue 52 and be delivered directly to a sorting station 54. Note that sorted orders may be conveyed directly from a sorting station 54 to a packing station 60, or alternatively to another sorting station 54 for additional sorting. While not shown, in some implementations, sorted orders may be conveyed to some other processing station 58 or processing station queue 56 for additional processing before being conveyed to a packing station 60.
Conventionally, sorting may be performed using automated sorting mechanisms or manual sorting systems. Sorting stations 54 in a material handling facility may include one or more automated sorting mechanisms, one or more manual sorting stations, or a combination of one or more automated sorting mechanisms and one or more manual sorting stations. Automated sorting mechanisms for sorting certain types of inventory items according to individual orders include, but are not limited to, the Crisplant® sorter, Eurosort® sorters, and automated sorting mechanisms offered by other vendors. Using an automated sorting mechanism, batches or a stream of incoming picked items for multiple different customer orders are received at the automated sorting mechanism and sorted by the automated mechanism according to individual orders. Different sorting stations 54 in a materials handling facility may be configured to perform sorts of different types and/or sizes of items or different types or sizes of orders. As used herein, the size of an order generally refers to the physical dimensions of the assembled items of the order and not to the number of individual items in the order. Thus, a pick destination 50 for a “batch” of picked items may be a particular sorting station 54 configured to sort that type or size of item, or the type or size of orders for which the items were picked.
In some materials processing facilities, some picked items may be delivered to a queue 56 for some other processing station 58 than a sorting station 54 where additional processing of the picked items may be performed, such as the performance of some value-added service. Other picked items, such as items for priority orders, may bypass the queue 56 and be delivered directly to a processing station 58. Note that processed items may be conveyed to a sorting station 54 or sorting station queue 52 for sorting into orders or, alternatively, directly from a processing station 58 to a packing station 60. Note that some items maybe conveyed to some other processing station 58 for additional processing prior to sorting and/or packing.
Some picked items, such as a group of one or more items making up a complete order that does not require sorting or other processing, may be delivered directly to a packing station 60. After packing, orders are delivered to shipping 70 to be shipped to the customers 10.
Different packing stations 60 in a materials handling facility may be configured to pack different types and/or sizes of orders. As used herein, the size of an order generally refers to the physical dimensions of the assembled items of the order and not to the number of individual items in the order. Thus, a pick destination for a “batch” of picked items may be a particular packing station 60 configured to pack the type or size of orders for which the items were picked.
Note that a picked, packed, and shipped order does not necessarily include all of the items ordered by the customer; a shipped order may include only a subset of the ordered items available to ship at one time from one inventory-storing location. Also note that a materials handling facility typically also includes a receiving operation for receiving shipments of stock from various vendors and placing the received stock into stock storage. Further, note that the various operations of a materials handling facility may be located in one building or facility, or alternatively may be spread or subdivided across two or more buildings or facilities.
FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary physical layout of a conventional material handling facility, specifically an order fulfillment facility, or center. At any time, one or more agents 42 of the distributor may each be picking items from inventory 30 to fulfill portions or all of one or more orders. This may result in a stream and/or batches of picked items for multiple incomplete or complete orders, which may then be delivered to various stations (pick destinations 50), for example sorting or packing stations, in the materials handling facility for processing prior to shipping 70. A stream may be a continuous or nearly continuous flow of picked items arriving at a station, while groups of items arriving periodically or aperiodically at a station may be referred to as batches. Note that portions of an order may be received from the pickers 42, or from other stations, at a station at different times, so processing at a station may have to wait for one or more items for some orders to be delivered to the station from picking and/or from another station before completion of processing of the orders.
Conventionally, a picker 42 picks items from inventory 30 for only one pick destination 50 at a time. For example, a picker 42 may be instructed to pick items for one order at a time, or items for a batch of orders all going to one pick destination 50 (e.g., to a particular automated sorting station, manual sorting station, packing station, or other processing station), or a list of items from various orders all going to a particular destination, etc. Thus, a picker 42 picks items for one stream or process path for the items, delivers the picked items to their common pick destination 50, and leaves the processing and sorting of the picked items into their individual orders to the downstream station(s). The picker then repeats the process for another list of items potentially for a different pick destination 50.
The stream or batches of incoming picked items are processed at a station, for example sorted into their respective orders at a sorting station. Once the processing of items for an order is completed at a station, the items may be delivered to another station for further processing, for example to a sorting station to be sorted into orders or to a packing station to be packaged for shipping 70. Note that an order fulfillment center may also include one or more receiving stations for receiving shipments of stock from various vendors. The received stock may then be placed into stock storage. Further, note that the various operations and stations of an order fulfillment center may be located in one building or facility, or alternatively may be spread or subdivided across two or more buildings or facilities.
Motes
The “core” of a mote is essentially a very small, low-cost, low-power computer with wireless communications capability that may be coupled to one or more external components of various types depending on the intended function of the mote. The computing core of motes may be implemented on small circuit boards or cards, or even as single “chips”. Components of a mote may include, but are not limited to: a CPU, memory, and a radio transmitter/receiver, or other type of wireless transmitter/receiver. The core of the mote may include other components such as an A/D converter for sensor data. This computing “core” of the mote may be coupled to one or more other components including, but not limited to: a battery or other power source, and an antenna. Currently, motes are typically powered by batteries, but alternatively may tap into the power grid in certain applications. Other components, such as sensors, may also be coupled to a mote.
A mote connects to the outside world via a wireless link. Since motes tend to be small, low-cost, and low-power devices, low-power wireless links are typical. The most common wireless links used in motes allow the motes to transmit in a range of 10 to 200 feet (3 to 61 meters). Barriers to longer ranges of transmission include power consumption, size and cost. Note that some motes may be larger and/or may have more powerful power supplies, and thus these motes may have more powerful wireless links. Also note that technological advances and/or the use of more expensive components may provide some motes with more powerful wireless links than typical motes.
All of these components may be packaged together in a small package. Note that this “package” that includes all of the components of the mote is what is referred to when the term “mote” is used herein. Currently, motes, including batteries and antenna, range from the size of a stack of five or six quarters to the size of a deck of cards. The battery is typically the biggest part of the mote. Much smaller motes are possible in the future. As motes shrink in size and power consumption, other power sources, such as solar power or even vibration power, may be introduced.
A programmer may write software to control the mote and to configure it to perform a desired function. Motes may be used in some applications to create ad hoc networks of anywhere from two to thousands of motes that can communicate with each other and pass data from one to another. When a mote or motes are added to such an implementation, each mote “wakes up” and then sends out a radio signal to find its neighboring mote(s). The motes in the implementation may cooperate to create an amorphous, ad-hoc network to perform some task, such as collecting sensor data from an area to be delivered to a central mote or other receiving station.